For those of you who enjoy tales of the supernatural, or
just the bloody weird, read on. You may
recall the old story of The Beast of Gloucester, a legendary big cat that
roamed the Cotswolds killing big game (deer, cattle, etc.). There is a good thread about the Beast
here: http://tinyurl.com/747on65 Anyways, it seems there could be a new big
cat stalking the wolds, now being referred to as either The Wildcat of
Woodchester or The Beast of Stroud.
I’m sure these
reports should be taken with a grain of salt, but they do make interesting
reading. The past week there have been
articles filling up many UK papers about a host of attacks in the Cotswolds
that are being attributed to a big cat. Along
with a series of deer kills, there was an incident where three wallabies (held
in a private farm) were eaten, despite being kept behind a seven foot
fence. DNA tests are being carried out
right now to confirm whether the killer was a cat, so watch this space.
Big cat sightings in the area are rather common, with over
75 sightings being logged by local police between 2005 and 2011 in the areas
between Stroud Common and Woodchester (see the list here http://tinyurl.com/73pco5x) A full article in the Daily Mail is here: http://tinyurl.com/7vyyh8b
The suspicion, as with most big cat stories, is that some
fool illegally bought a panther, jaguar, or similar as a pet and then let it
loose, or it escaped. If you have any
stories of sightings, theories, etc., please do share them!
